The present invention relates to a recording material cutting device to be utilized in an image-forming apparatus such as a plotter, printer, facsimile and copying machine.
In many image-forming apparatus such as of an ink-jet type, there is intermittently transferred a recording material wound in a roll shape while drawing out the recording material from the roll, and there is formed an image of 1 band on the recording material at a time, by a recording head which reciprocates in a direction (widthwise direction of the recording material) substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction. Many of such image-forming apparatus are provided with recording material cutting devices for cutting away those portions of the recording materials which have been formed with the pertinent images. Basically, recording material cutting devices include a cutter blade or holder means for holding such a cutter blade, and a driving portion for reciprocating it in the widthwise direction of the recording material. While the transferring operation of the recording material is stopped, the cutter blade is to move in a direction (i.e., widthwise direction of the recording material) substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction similarly to the recording head, to thereby cut the recording material.
Although cutter edge surfaces have a certain extent of length, keeping on cutting recording materials at only one point of a cutter edge surface will result in a rapid abrasion at the one point to thereby shorten the service life of the cutter blade itself. Thus, as disclosed in JP-A-8-290387 (290387/1996) of the present applicant, it has been proposed that the cutter blade moving in the widthwise direction of the recording material in a recording material cutting device is to be also displaced in a direction vertical to the recording material (up-and-down direction) within a certain extent so as to cut the recording material by the whole of the cutter blade, to thereby prolong the service life of the cutter blade.
The recording material cutting device described in the JP-A-8-290387 is provided with a cutter rail. When a rotatable guiding roller is moved in the widthwise direction of the recording material along a cammed surface (tapered surface) provided at the lower side of the cutter rail, there is changed, relative to the recording material, the height of the cutter blade coupled to the guiding roller. This causes the substantially whole of the cutter blade to be used to cut the recording material so as to uniformalize the abrasion of the cutter blade, to thereby prolong the service life of the cutter blade.
Further, there has been known a recording material cutting device in which a cutter blade is laterally inclined to a recording material, i.e., the side of the cutter blade is inclined to the upstream or downstream side in the transferring direction relative to the surface of the recording material to a certain extent. FIGS. 35 and 36 show an example of such a recording material cutting device. FIG. 35 is a perspective view of the recording material cutting device viewed diagonally from the above, and FIG. 36 is a cross-sectional view of the cutter blade portion of the device of FIG. 35 taken along a cross section including a straight line parallel to the transferring direction (i.e., direction D) of the recording material.
The recording material cutting device shown in FIGS. 35 and 36 includes a rotatable guiding roller 64 which is moved up and down along a cammed surface at the lower side of a cutter rail 70 when a cutter base 61 is moved along a guiding rail 60 in a direction C. Such an upper and lower movement of the guiding roller 64 causes a cutter arm 65 to swing about a shaft 63, thereby causing a cutter holder 66 upwardly urged by a spring 67 to move upwardly and downwardly. The cutter holder 66 has a lower end provided with a cutter blade 30 so that the cutter blade 30 moves upwardly and downwardly together with the movement of the cutter holder 66. Acting as a recording material placing part is a platen 17 formed with a cutter-aimed groove 31, such that the cutter blade 30 is moved upwardly and downwardly within the cutter-aimed groove 31 to thereby change the cutting-in depth for a recording material 13. Such a mechanism allows to cut the recording material 13, by the whole of the cutter blade 30 mounted to the lower end of the cutter holder 66.
As seen from FIG. 36, the cutter blade 30 is inclinedly held at the lower end of the cutter holder 66. As a result, upon starting the cutting of the recording material 13, those portions of the recording material at the left and right of the cutter blade 30 in FIG. 36 tend to be cut up upwardly and downwardly, respectively, i.e., in the different directions. This reduces the resistance of the recording material 13 against the cutter blade 30, to thereby improve an entering ability of the cutter blade 30 into the recording material. As a result, it becomes possible to restrict the occurrence of such a phenomenon that the recording material is twisted or creased to thereby wave or ripple the cut portion of the recording material upon starting the cutting.
According to the conventional recording material cutting device as described above, it certainly becomes possible to realize such an effect to prolong the service life of the cutter blade, by upwardly and downwardly displacing the cutter holder holding the cutter blade in the inclined state, so as to cut the recording material by the whole of the cutter blade. However, merely upwardly and downwardly moving the cutter holder changes that position in the direction D (see FIG. 36) where the cutter blade cuts the recording material, thereby deviating the cut portion of the recording material from a straight line and causing the cut portion to become a curved line, so that the straightness of the cut portion is deteriorated. Such a deterioration of the straightness is considerably problematic, in items such as a business-use poster the dimensions of which are strictly defined.
Further, the conventional recording material cutting device requires the rail having the cammed surface as described above, so as to cause: the cutter blade moving in the widthwise direction of the recording material; to be displaced upwardly and downwardly during the movement of the cutter blade. Such a rail is to be installed over the full width of the recording material, to thereby complicate the structure of the device and cause a difficulty in downsizing the device.
In the aforementioned recording material cutting device, the cutter blade located above the recording material is lowered to thereby enter the recording material while forming an acute angle between the cutter edge surface and the recording material, such that the cutter blade travels in the direction (widthwise direction of the recording material) perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction to thereby cut the recording material. In this case, particularly to avoid a cut-jam where the recording material is buckled or creased upon starting the cutting, there exists such a recording material cutting device provided with, near the cutter blade, a seizing member for resiliently seizing the recording material downwardly.
Meantime, keeping on using a certain region of an edge surface of a cutter blade rapidly wears the certain region and rapidly deteriorates the cutting quality. When the recording material is made of paper, the thus deteriorated cutting quality causes such problems that: the cut portion of the recording material becomes linty or nappy; the recording material is buckled to be wavy; and/or the straightness of the sectioned surface of the recording material is deteriorated after cutting. When the recording material is a coated paper, the deteriorated cutting quality may cause particles of the coating agent.
The deteriorated cutting quality of a cutter blade requires replacement of: the whole cutter blade; or that region of the edge surface of the cutter blade which is used to cut a recording material. The latter situation requires a mechanism for stepwise changing over: the protruding amount of the edge of the cutter-blade; beyond the aforementioned seizing member, upon cutting. Those recording material cutting devices provided with such mechanisms are allowed to effectively use the whole edge surface of the cutter blade by the changeover, to thereby advantageously prolong the service life of the cutter blade and reduce the replacement frequency of the cutter blade. Typically, cutter blades are provided by integrating materials such as plastics with edges of metal held by the materials. This is to reduce the risk such as of injury of user""s fingers upon replacement of the cutter blade, such that the whole of the edge and the plastics is replaced.
Meanwhile, even in a recording material cutting device capable of changing over the recording material cutting region of the cutter blade by changing or varying the protruding amount of the edge of the cutter blade, there will be caused the following problems in case of firstly using the near-root portion of the cutter blade rather than firstly using the near-tip portion of the cutter blade.
Using a cutter blade to cut a recording material may cause the recording material to be deformed by buckling and/or bending such as due to the wear of the edge surface and/or an unexpected accident, as mentioned above. Further, during the cutting by the near-root portion of the edge, those portions of the edge which are more extreme than the near-root portion are protruded beyond the aforementioned seizing member. Thus, when such a cutter blade is about to forcibly enter the bent and deformed recording material, the recording material may strike the unused tip portion of the cutter blade depending on the deformation of the recording material, and may break the tip portion. Even partly broken cutter blades in such a way should be wholly replaced, even if the remaining portions of the cutter blades are not broken.
Particularly, when those users unfamiliar with the usage of the recording material cutting device are to change the protruding amount of the edge of the cutter blade, such users are unaware of the appropriate degree of usage of the cutter blade for changing the protruding amount of the edge. This may cause such a situation where a certain portion of the edge is kept used for an excessively long time to thereby break the edge, so that the cutter blade should be replaced at a period rather shorter than the inherent service life of the cutter blade. Further, merely enabling to stepwise change the protruding amount of the edge of the cutter blade has caused such an inconvenience to find an appropriate region of the edge by completely checking the cutting qualities of the respective regions when the previously used region is forgotten.
The present invention has been carried out in view of the technical circumstances as described above, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a recording material cutting device for allowing to simplify the structure of the device and to downsize the device while having a mechanism for cutting a recording material by the whole edge of a cutter blade so as to prolong the service life of the cutter blade.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording material cutting device capable of improving the straightness of the cut portion of the recording material.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a recording material cutting device: which allows to simplify the structure of the device and to downsize the device while having a mechanism for cutting a recording material by the whole edge of a cutter blade so as to prolong the service life of the cutter blade; and which is capable of the straightness of the cut portion of the recording material.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a recording material cutting device capable of changing the cutting position of the cutter blade in a predetermined sequence, thereby assuredly avoiding a situation where the unused region of the edge surface of the cutter blade is broken, and thereby effectively using the edge surface of the cutter blade.
To achieve the above object, the first invention resides in a recording material cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction, the recording material being placed and transferred on a recording material placing part of an image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device comprising: cutter blade fixing means fixedly mounted with the cutter blade; urging means for resiliently urging the cutter blade fixing means in the direction toward the recording material placing part; cutter blade traveling means for traveling, upon the cutting motion, the cutter blade fixing means together with the urging means in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction and parallelly to the recording material placing part; a cammed surface having up-and-downness at its upper surface and being formed at that portion of the recording material placing part, which is along the traveling path of the cutter blade; and recording material seizing means provided integrally with the cutter blade fixing means, so as to resiliently receive the urging force of the urging means in a state of clamping the recording material between the recording material seizing means and the cammed surface upon the cutting motion, to thereby seize the recording material.
The second invention is subordinated to the first invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side surface of the cutter blade is inclined from the direction in which the cutter blade fixing means is urged, and wherein the urging means urges the cutter blade fixing means in the direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part.
The third invention is subordinated to the first invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side surface of the cutter blade is parallel to the direction in which the cutter blade fixing means is urged, and wherein the urging means urges the cutter blade fixing means in the direction inclined from the direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part.
The fourth invention resides in a recording material cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction, the recording material being placed and transferred on a recording material placing part of an image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device comprising: cutter blade fixing means fixedly mounted with the cutter blade; cutter blade supporting means rotatably mounted with the cutter blade fixing means; urging means for resiliently urging the cutter blade supporting means in the direction toward the recording material placing part; turn-urging means for resiliently turn-urging the cutter blade fixing means in the direction for shallowing the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material; cutter blade traveling means for traveling, upon the cutting motion, the cutter blade supporting means together with the cutter blade fixing means, the turn-urging means and the urging means, in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction and parallelly to the recording material placing part; a cammed surface having up-and-downness at its upper surface and being formed at that portion of the recording material placing part, which is along the traveling path of the cutter blade; and recording material seizing means provided integrally with the cutter blade fixing means, so as to resiliently receive the urging force of the urging means in a state of clamping the recording material between the recording material seizing means and the cammed surface upon the cutting motion, to thereby seize the recording material; the recording material seizing means being adapted to turn, correspondingly to the shape of the cammed surface, the cutter blade fixing means against the turn urging force of the turn-urging means, in the direction for deepening the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material.
The fifth invention is subordinated to the fourth invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side surface of the cutter blade is inclined from the turning-aimed plane for the cutter blade fixing means; and wherein the cutter blade fixing means is mounted to the cutter blade supporting means such that the turning-aimed plane for the cutter blade fixing means becomes perpendicular to the recording material placing part.
The sixth invention is subordinated to the fourth invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side surface of the cutter blade is parallel to the turning-aimed plane for the cutter blade fixing means; and wherein the cutter blade fixing means is mounted to the cutter blade supporting means such that the turning-aimed plane for the cutter blade fixing means is inclined from a plane perpendicular to the recording material placing part.
The seventh invention resides in a recording material cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction, the recording material being placed and transferred on a recording material placing part of an image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device comprising: cutter blade fixing means fixedly mounted with the cutter blade; cutter blade supporting means translatably mounted with the cutter blade fixing means; urging means for resiliently urging the cutter blade supporting means in the direction toward the recording material placing part; cutter blade translating means coupled to the cutter blade fixing means and rotatably mounted to the cutter blade supporting means, so as to translate the cutter blade fixing means coupled to the cutter blade translating means by the rotating motion of the cutter blade translating means into a direction for deepening or shallowing the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material; turn-urging means for resiliently turn-urging the cutter blade translating means in the direction for shallowing the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material; cutter blade traveling means for traveling, upon the cutting motion, the cutter blade supporting means together with the cutter blade fixing means, the cutter blade translating means, the urging means, and the turn-urging means, in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction and parallelly to the recording material placing part; a cammed surface having up-and-downness at its upper surface and being formed at that portion of the recording material placing part, which is along the traveling path of the cutter blade; and recording material seizing means provided integrally with the cutter blade translating means, so as to resiliently receive the urging force of the urging means in a state of clamping the recording material between the recording material seizing means and the cammed surface upon the cutting motion, to thereby seize the recording material; the recording material seizing means being adapted to turn, correspondingly to the shape of the cammed surface, the cutter blade translating means against the turn urging force of the turn-urging means, in the direction for deepening the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material.
The eighth invention is subordinated to the seventh invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed to the cutter blade fixing means such that the side surface of the cutter blade is inclined from the translating direction; and wherein the cutter blade fixing means is mounted to the cutter blade supporting means such that the translating direction of the cutter blade fixing means becomes perpendicular to the recording material placing part.
The ninth invention is subordinated to the seventh invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed to the cutter blade fixing means such that the side surface of the cutter blade is parallel to the translating direction; and wherein the cutter blade fixing means is mounted to the cutter blade supporting means such that the translating direction of the cutter blade fixing means is inclined from a direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part.
The tenth invention resides in a recording material cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction, the recording material being placed and transferred on a recording material placing part of an image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device comprising: rail means installed in the widthwise direction of the recording material and parallelly to the recording material, the rail means being formed with a cammed surface at that side opposing to the recording surface of the recording material; cutter blade traveling means for traveling along the rail means; cutter blade fixing means fixed with the cutter blade at that side of the cutter blade fixing means which opposes to the recording material, the cutter blade fixing means being held by the cutter blade traveling means such that the cutter blade fixing means is allowed to translate in the direction for shallowing or deepening the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material; swinging means mounted to the cutter blade traveling means in a manner to be swingable within a plane perpendicular to the recording material, the swinging means being provided with a guiding member for abutting onto the cammed surface of the rail means and with an abutting member for abutting onto a part of the cutter blade fixing means; and urging means mounted to the cutter blade traveling means, so as to push the guiding member against the cammed surface of the rail means, to thereby urge the cutter supporting means in a direction for shallowing the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material.
The eleventh invention is subordinated to the tenth invention, wherein the translating direction of the cutter blade fixing means is inclined from a direction perpendicular to the recording material; and wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side surface of the cutter blade becomes parallel to the translating direction of the cutter blade fixing means.
The twelfth invention resides in a recording material cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction, the recording material being placed and transferred on a recording material placing part of an image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device comprising: an independent cutter blade or a cutter blade held by holding means; accommodating means provided separately from the cutter blade or holding means, so as to accommodate the cutter blade or holding means in a manner moveable in the direction toward the recording material placing part; urging means for resiliently urging the cutter blade or holding means and the accommodating means in the direction toward the recording material placing part; seizing means provided at the accommodating means, so as to resiliently receive the urging force of the urging means in a state of clamping the recording material between the seizing means and the recording material placing part upon the cutting motion, to thereby seize the recording material; protruding amount varying means for varying the amount (protruding amount) of the cutter blade protruding beyond the accommodating means in the direction toward the recording material placing part; and traveling means for traveling, upon the cutting motion, the accommodating means together with the urging means and the protruding amount varying means, in a direction which is parallel to the recording material placing part and substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction.
The thirteenth invention resides in a recording material cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction, the recording material being placed and transferred on a recording material placing part of an image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device comprising: an independent cutter blade or a cutter blade held by holding means; accommodating means provided separately from the cutter blade or holding means, so as to accommodate the cutter blade or holding means in a manner moveable in the direction toward the recording material placing part; urging means for resiliently urging the cutter blade or holding means and the accommodating means in the direction toward the recording material placing part; a cammed surface having up-and-downness at its upper surface and being formed at that portion of the recording material placing part, which is along the traveling direction of the cutter blade; seizing means provided at the accommodating means, so as to resiliently receive the urging force of the urging means in a state of clamping the recording material between the seizing means and the cammed surface upon the cutting motion, to thereby seize the recording material; protruding amount varying means for varying the amount (protruding amount) of the cutter blade protruding beyond the accommodating means in the direction toward the recording material placing part; and traveling means for traveling, upon the cutting motion, the accommodating means together with the urging means and the protruding amount varying means, in a direction which is parallel to the recording material placing part and substantially perpendicular to the recording material transferring direction.
The fourteenth invention is subordinated to the thirteenth invention, wherein the cammed surface is formed such that the cutter blade is caused to most deeply cut into the recording material upon breaking into the recording material, within a region through which the cutter blade passes during the period from the breaking into the recording material up to the completion of cutting.
The fifteenth invention is subordinated to any one of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth inventions, wherein the protruding amount varying means includes: a protruding amount varying direction restricted to a direction for increasing the protruding amount; and indicating means for indicating the current protruding amount.
The sixteenth invention is subordinated to any one of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth inventions, wherein the protruding amount varying means comprises: second urging means for urging the cutter blade or holding means in a direction opposite to a direction toward the recording material placing part, with respect to the accommodating means; and changeover means located between the cutter blade or holding means and the accommodating means, so as to receive the urging force of the second urging means, and so as to stepwise change over the relative positions between the cutter blade or holding means and the accommodating means in the direction toward the recording material placing part.
The seventeenth invention is subordinated to the sixteenth invention, wherein the height difference of the cammed surface is equal to or smaller than one step of the relative positions between the cutter blade or holding means and the accommodating means to be changed over by the changeover means.
The eighteenth invention is subordinated to either of the sixteenth and seventeenth inventions, wherein the changeover means comprises a disc-like member, which disc-like member has a circumference inscribed with numbers each corresponding to the protruding amount, and which disc-like member has a rotating direction restricted to either of clockwise or counterclockwise correspondingly to the increasing direction of the protruding amount.
According to the first through third inventions, the recording material placing part is provided with the cammed surface, so that the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material is varied as the cutter blade travels, thereby resultingly allowing to cut the recording material by using the whole of the cutter blade, to thereby prolong the service life of the cutter blade and to eliminate the necessity of a cutter rail having been required in the conventional device so as to vary the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into a recording material. This allows to readily simplify the structure of the device and to downsize the device.
According to the third invention, the side surface of the cutter blade is fixed in a state parallel to the urging direction of the cutter blade fixing means, and the cutter blade fixing means is urged in a direction inclined from the direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part, thereby allowing to improve the straightness of the cut portion of the recording material.
According to the fourth through sixth inventions, there are provided the turn-urging means in addition to the urging means, and the recording material seizing means formed integrally with the rotatably mounted cutter blade fixing means. Thus, in addition to the effects according to the first through third inventions, it becomes possible to reduce the up-and-downness of the recording material placing part required to change the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade as compared with the first through third inventions, and the straightness of the cut portion of the recording material can be improved to that extent.
According to the sixth invention, the side surface of the cutter blade is fixed in a state parallel to the turning-aimed plane of the cutter blade fixing means and the cutter blade fixing means is mounted to be inclined from a direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part, to thereby further improve the straightness of the cut portion of the recording material.
According to the seventh through ninth inventions, the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material is varied by the translation of the cutter blade relative to the recording material upon the cutting motion. Thus, in addition to the effects of the first through sixth inventions, the angle between the edge surface of the cutter blade and the recording material is kept substantially constant throughout the cutting motion from the starting to the ending, to thereby stabilize the cutting motion.
According to the ninth invention, the side surface of the cutter blade is mounted parallelly to the cutter blade fixing means and the cutter blade fixing means translates in a state inclined from the direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part, thereby allowing to improve the straightness of the cut portion of the recording material.
According to the tenth and eleventh inventions, the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material is changed by the cammed surface of the rail means when the cutter blade travels, thereby resultingly allow to cut the recording material by the whole of the cutter blade. This enables to prolong the service life of the cutter blade similarly to the conventional. Further, the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material is varied by the translation of the cutter blade relative to the recording material upon the cutting motion. Thus, the angle between the edge surface of the cutter blade and the recording material is kept substantially constant throughout the cutting motion from the starting to the ending, to thereby stabilize the cutting motion.
According to the eleventh invention, the side surface of the cutter blade is fixed parallelly to the translating direction of the cutter blade fixing means, and the cutter blade fixing means is translated in the direction inclined from the direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part, to thereby allow to improve the straightness of the cut portion of the recording material.
According to the twelfth through eighteenth inventions, there is provided the protruding amount varying means for changing over the region of the cutter blade for cutting the recording material. Thus, the substantially whole of the edge surface of the cutter blade can be effectively used, to thereby prolong the service life of the cutter blade, as compared with the situation for using only a part of the edge surface of the cutter blade. Further, the direction of the protruding amount varying means for changing over the cutting region of the cutter blade is restricted to the direction from the tip end portion toward the root of the cutter blade. Thus, even when the recording material is deformed somehow and the cutter blade has entered the deformed portion, the recording material never strikes the unused portion of the cutter blade, thereby allowing to keep on using the cutter blade until the inherent service life of the cutter blade is fulfilled.
According to the thirteenth invention, there is further formed the cammed surface at that portion of the recording material placing part which is along the traveling direction of the cutter blade, to thereby allow to cut the recording material by using a certain width of each of the switchable regions of the cutter blade. Thus, it becomes possible to prolong the period of time where each of the switchable regions of the cutter blade is worn, as compared with a situation where the recording material is cut only by a single point of each cutting region. As a result, the service life of the whole of the cutter blade can be effectively prolonged.
According to the fifteenth invention, there is provided the indicating means for indicating the current protruding amount of the cutter blade. Thus, even when those users unfamiliar with the usage of the recording material cutting device are to conduct the switching operation of the cutter blade, the users are allowed to assuredly change over to the region to be used next. This assuredly avoids such mistakes that the cutter blade is replaced while leaving the unused portions, and/or that the already used and worn portion of the cutter blade is used again to thereby bend and/or buckle the recording material.